RBI has been printing and issuing bank notes in the Mahatma Gandhi series since 1996. The note in Rs5 denomination was printed in 2001, Rs10 in June 1996, Rs20 in 2001, Rs100 in June 1996, Rs500 in October 1997 and Rs1000 in November 2000.

PHOTO: TIMES OF INDIA

All the bank notes of these series carry Gandhi’s portrait on the front side in place of a symbol of a lion mark capital of the Ashoka pillar which has also been restored and shifted to the left side, next to the water mark window.

The Rs10 note carries Gandhi’s image on the obverse side while that of fauna on the reverse side and it is one of the first notes introduced by the RBI in Mahatma Gandhi series in 1996.

In the latest notes, only the lion mark capital of the Ashoka pillar is visible. Refuting the claims of the bankers in Vijayawada and Hyderabad, who stated that they have not received these particular notes from the RBI, businessman Venkateswara Rao said that he had received such a note from a shopkeeper in his native town.

“I obviously grew suspicious upon seeing the note without Gandhi’s image. When I showed it to the local State Bank of India officials, they said it was an original note only. The note bears the pin marks indicating that it came out from a pinned currency bundle issued by a nationalized bank,” he said.

A senior official in RBI said that they were not aware of the new bank notes printed without Gandhi’s portrait.

“The Rs10 note is under circulation since colonial times and is in continuous production since the RBI took over the functions of the controller of currency in 1923. The notes you are referring to could be belonging to the earlier period,” said the RBI officer.

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